Drainage and other trenches of various sizes and shapes are desirable for a number of applications. For example, manufacturing facilities typically require drainage systems that include trenches formed in the building floors to collect, remove, and/or recycle excess water or other liquids. In addition, numerous outdoor industrial and commercial sites, such as parking lots, require drainage systems, including trenches, to collect and direct rainwater and other liquids to underground storm sewers to prevent flooding and to decrease run-off. Similarly, roadways and the like may also require drainage systems, including trenches.
Drainage systems are also desirable around athletic facilities such as running tracks, tennis courts, pool decks, and the like. Drainage is also often desirable around natural and synthetic turf surfaces. Furthermore, such natural and synthetic turf surfaces may be adjacent to other surfaces that also require drainage and, therefore, the turf may end at the drains that surround these other surfaces.
For example, many athletic facilities feature a track surrounding a football and/or soccer field where the field is made up of synthetic turf. The track surface may require a drainage system adjacent to the inside edge of the track, between the track and the football/soccer field. Since the top of the drainage channel is usually flush with or slightly lower than the track surface that it is designed to drain, it is generally desirable for aesthetic purposes and to prevent a trip hazard, to sink the bottom of the turf surface relative to the top of the drainage channel so that the surfaces on either side of the drainage channel are generally flush with each other. It is also often necessary to anchor the edge of the synthetic turf. Currently, a piece of wood is positioned in the ground next to the drainage channel and, in some cases, attached to the exterior surface of the concrete that is surrounding the drainage channel at some location lower than the upper edge of the concrete. The wood board extends away from the concrete under the synthetic turf and provides a surface to which the synthetic turf can be nailed. Alternatively, a concrete ledge is sometimes formed below the top edge of the drainage channel leaving the top of the drainage channel exposed and without supporting concrete. These procedures, however, add extra time and expense to the installation process and may weaken the drainage channel structure and limit the design of the drainage channel. Also, over time the wood surface may warp and decompose thereby providing a poor anchor for the synthetic turf surface.
Therefore, the inventors of the present application have identified a need to provide an improved system for integrating a drainage system between two different surfaces, particularly where one of the surfaces is a synthetic turf surface or some other surface that is thicker than the surface on the opposite side of the drainage channel. The inventors have also identified a need to provide improved systems for anchoring the edges of a synthetic turf surface and for integrating a drainage system with a synthetic turf anchor location and turf edge.